Check out Sprints’ Teenage Kicks playlist, feat. Blondie, Stone Roses, Led Zeppelin and more

When you load up Spotify, a great big chunk of the time you can’t think what to play, right? You default back to your old favourites, those albums and songs you played on repeat when you first discovered you could make them yours. 

This isn’t about guilty pleasures; it’s about those songs you’ll still be listening to when you’re old and in your rocking chair. So, enter Teenage Kicks – a playlist series that sees bands running through the music they listened to in their formative years.

Next up, Karla Chubb, Jack Callan and Sam McCann from Sprints.

Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze

Karla: An old guitar teacher gifted me a Jimi Hendrix compilation one day, and it set me on a journey of musical obsession and discovery. He’s still probably one of my biggest guitar influences to this day. 

Blondie – Maria 

Karla: I so vividly remember seeing this music video come on screen when I was a kid watching MTV every hour of the day I could. I instantly fell in love with Debbie Harry, her style, her grit, the swagger of her singing and thought, I want to do that. 

Nirvana – Breed

Karla: Maybe it’s cliche, but I don’t think there’s a teenager who has picked up a guitar who hasn’t been influenced by Nirvana. Classic albums are classics for a reason and ‘Nevermind’ reminds me of discovering new genres, experimenting with sounds, and also recent road trips with SPRINTS. Nirvana are always in our rotation and always will be. 

Stone Roses – I Am The Resurrection

Sam: This whole album was another soundtrack for my teenage years and also one of the first gigs I went to without the parents babysitting me. Introduced me to all the other Manchester bands. I became obsessed with the scene; I still wish I could go back in time to the hacienda for a night out. One of the first songs I learned on bass too, a lot of iconic riffs and moments packed into this one tune.

Avril Lavigne – I’m With You

Karla: No such thing as a guilty pleasure, and the old Avril Lavigne songs slap. I guess we all just want to be a rock chick.

The Killers – Somebody Told Me

Karla: There was an explosion of guitar, indie, and rock in the early 2000s that shaped all of our musical tastes and influences. There were a few golden years of festivals with bands like The Hives, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, The Gossip, The Ting Tings, and Bombay Bicycle Club all stuffing the lineups and our playlists. ‘Hot Fuss’ is, to me, still one of the greatest debut indie guitar albums ever. 

My Chemical Romance – Teenagers

Sam: This album made a huge impression on me. I would have this on constant repeat; I would play drums along to it and eventually my first bass along to it, in my room dressed in black, acting like I was in the band; lots of people used to do stuff like that, I think. Sadly, I can only pick one track from this album, so for Teenage Kicks, it might as well be ‘Teenagers’.

Lisa Hannigan – I don’t know

Jack: My dad bought this album for my mam, who absolutely hated it. Much to their surprise, I loved it, and it got me listening to music beyond the rock world as an all-black-wearing 13-year-old. There’s a great live version on YouTube from the snug of Dick Mac’s pub in Dingle that I still regularly go back to. Hannigan has a joyous stage presence that’s infectious and was the perfect tonic to my moody teenage self. 

Led Zeppelin – Good Times Bad Times 

Jack: John Bonham is a big reason I wanted to play drums, and he remains my favourite drummer. I’ve always been obsessed with his bass drum wizardry on this track, and it still fills me with the same sense of wonder as it did when I was a kid.

Taken from the July 2024 issue of Dork. Sprints’ debut album ‘Letter To Self’ is out now.